By: Ruhan Theunissen - Energy Manager at Energy Partners

The recent confirmation of government’s commitment to invest more than R1 trillion in infrastructure over the next three years is promising. Of that public-sector expenditure, around a fifth is earmarked to support energy-related projects, with allocations across renewable energy integration, grid reliability improvements, and energy transmission and distribution networks[2].

While this capital injection is absolutely necessary to support the supply side of South Africa’s energy system, it will not fix the ongoing demand-side inefficacies. This begs the question: how much energy – and money – are businesses wasting inside their own operations? The answer is millions and, in many cases, the waste is measurable, recurring and entirely preventable. 

Biggest energy savings often hide in plain sight

Energy audits across commercial and industrial facilities consistently reveal untapped savings. In one educational environment, online metering showed that wasted overnight consumption accounted for about 33% of the classroom’s total energy use. The value of this unnecessary energy use at night is currently R48 000 over nine months. Extrapolated over a full year, this amounts to R67 500. The solution is not capital-intensive, but rather a simple switching off policy or inexpensive timer switches.

In a separate portfolio of 134 small retail sites, 46% of lighting was still T8 or T5 fluorescent tubes, representing 434 kW of installed lighting load. A typical 1.5m T8 fluorescent tube is rated at 58 W. The equivalent LED is 24 W, delivering an energy saving of 59%. Replacing the remaining fluorescent fittings would save 635 000 kWh per year, translating into R1.8 million in annual cost savings and a carbon footprint reduction of 661 tCO₂ per year. 

Water, HVAC could quietly drive energy costs

Water heating is another area of persistent inefficiency. One surveyed facility’s hostel blocks still use six 24 kW conventional electrical resistance heating systems for domestic hot water. These consume around 519 000 kWh per year at a cost of R1,12 million per year. Switching to heat pumps, which use about a third of the energy of conventional elements, would yield an energy saving of 363 308 kWh per year and electricity cost savings of R786 890 per year. 

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems also frequently operate below optimal efficiency. At a large retail client, upgrading the control system and implementing an economiser air cycle by retrofitting automated dampers and controls resulted in an overall saving of 11% per year, peaking at up to 30% in spring and autumn months. Total estimated savings amount to 134 640 kWh per year, equating to R232 294 in annual cost savings and a reduction of about 140 tCO2e per year. Notably, the savings were achieved without full equipment replacement, but by optimising existing infrastructure.

Power factor correction remains one of the most overlooked opportunities. Six recent interventions across client portfolios are expected to save R995 000 per year, reducing maximum demand by about 340 kVA. In a food processing plant, fixing and upgrading power factor correction can achieve a saving of R1.2 million per year, reducing maximum demand by 645 kVA. Between these examples, nearly one megawatt of demand can be removed from the system. 

Internal inefficiencies are not marginal. In just the examples above, the annual savings exceed R5 million. This excludes the avoided carbon emissions and the system-wide benefit of reduced demand on generation and transmission infrastructure.

Preparing for the cost of energy to come

The financial context makes this even more pressing. Eskom’s approved increases for the current MYPD6 application enforces increases of 12.74%, 8.76% and 8.83% for 2026 to 2028 respectively, averaging 10.1% effectively per year. Thereafter, increases of around 10% are expected to remain the norm up to 2030. The compounding effect means electricity price increases will outpace inflation by nearly four times by 2030 since 2010 based on this assumption.

For a typical medium-sized corporate organisation, electricity costs of R24 million per year in 2024 are projected to increase to R39 million per year by 2030 if anticipated increases are applied. That is an additional R3.0 million per year that needs to be absorbed.

Against this backdrop, energy management is a core financial control mechanism. The triple bottom line framework of People, Planet and Profit reinforces this point. Without profit there is no business and no social prosperity. Rising energy costs threaten the profit leg. If that leg weakens, the people leg inevitably follows through reduced investment, constrained wages or even job losses. Meanwhile, avoidable inefficiencies undermine the planet leg through unnecessary emissions.

Fastest energy gains may be closest to home

Traditional energy management, underpinned by standardised approaches such as ISO 50001 frameworks, offers a practical way to address all three pillars simultaneously. It cuts energy consumption, reduces carbon emissions, and strengthens financial resilience.

Government’s R1 trillion infrastructure drive aims to strengthen transmission networks, integrate renewables and improve grid reliability. But as South Africa invests to fix the system from the outside, organisations must look inward with equal urgency. The most cost-effective, immediate and measurable contribution to energy system improvement may already be sitting in their own water heating, lighting circuits and control panels.